{"id":23361,"date":"2026-02-05T14:49:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/madrid-makes-major-moves-in-transfer-window\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:34:10","slug":"madrid-makes-major-moves-in-transfer-window","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/madrid-makes-major-moves-in-transfer-window\/","title":{"rendered":"Madrid makes major moves in transfer window"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Early this week, Atl\u00e9tico Madrid confirmed the signing of Nigerian forward Ademola Lookman from Italian side Atalanta in a deal reported to be worth $40.3 million. The 25-year-old will make history as the first English-born player to have featured in the Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, and La Liga.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In another high-profile transfer, Atl\u00e9tico Madrid have secured the services of Obed Vargas from MLS side Seattle Sounders. The midfielder has signed a contract keeping him at the Spanish club until June 30, 2030.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Madrid-based side has been active in the transfer market, both acquiring key players and offloading others. According to La Liga correspondent Phil Kitromilodes, the club\u2019s net spend was relatively low despite significant activity. \u201cThey have sold several players to major clubs, generating income that has balanced the books,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The club\u2019s new Technical Director played a pivotal role in bringing Lookman to Spain, though some signings have reportedly been made without full agreement from him and head coach Diego Simeone.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23362,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-23361","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Early this week, Atl\u00e9tico Madrid confirmed the signing of Nigerian forward Ademola Lookman","published_date":"2026-02-05 16:48:18","news_description":"Early this week, Atl\u00e9tico Madrid confirmed the signing of Nigerian forward Ademola Lookman","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26349,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23361\/revisions\/26349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=23361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}